44 months to 40

beanielou

Enjoy muchly

starnac

Happy Bank Holiday to you all. Hope you are enjoying your extra day off work. DH unfortunately has to work today as it's a place that people like to go to on days off.

Never mind!

We had a lovely holiday. Thank you Greying for your kind words, however if I let you into a secret, promise you won't tell anyone else?? We stayed in an old farmhouse that has been converted into a kind of bunkhouse. It's marketed at scout type groups. We've stayed there in the past on youth camps I've run. Anyway it sleeps over 30 people but you pay per person with a minimum head count. We were under the minimum but it was still cheaper for us to pay for the "extra" people than it was to book the holiday cottages we were looking at in the same area. Cost us £150 for 3 days away while the cottages wanted that per night!!

We didn't spend a penny while we were away. We took all our food with us, DH did all the cooking, which was lovely for me. I taught the kids to play 2 different kinds of Patience with a deck of cards. DS was obsessed with the board games and we played allsorts. It really was a lovely relaxing time away.

Just a week left of the summer holidays now and I am sad to see them go back to school. This holiday seems to have flown by and we haven't done half the things we had listed that we wanted to do. We have done things that weren't on the list mind so it's not too bad I suppose. I'm just feeling a bit melancholy.

Greying_Pilgrim

starnac wrote: »

We had a lovely holiday. Thank you Greying for your kind words, however if I let you into a secret, promise you won't tell anyone else?? We stayed in an old farmhouse that has been converted into a kind of bunkhouse. It's marketed at scout type groups. We've stayed there in the past on youth camps I've run. Anyway it sleeps over 30 people but you pay per person with a minimum head count. We were under the minimum but it was still cheaper for us to pay for the "extra" people than it was to book the holiday cottages we were looking at in the same area. Cost us £150 for 3 days away while the cottages wanted that per night!!

So glad you had a super time away. I've come to the same conclusion about 'Hair b and b' - it looks like it would 'pay' us to rent a house that will sleep eg 7 (often on sofa pull-outs) than attempt to find a small house/flat for 2 and a half. Although we're currently looking at tents........ :eek:

starnac wrote: »

Just a week left of the summer holidays now and I am sad to see them go back to school. This holiday seems to have flown by and we haven't done half the things we had listed that we wanted to do. We have done things that weren't on the list mind so it's not too bad I suppose. I'm just feeling a bit melancholy.

Aw, well, I suppose it's better to have activities 'in hand' than be in week 3 of 6 and the list has run dry........ And I bet your children haven't uttered the phrase 'I'm Bored' either! Definitely looking your way for parenting advice as we progress into the future starnac!


Have a good rest of the BH.


Greying X

starnac

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

So glad you had a super time away. I've come to the same conclusion about 'Hair b and b' - it looks like it would 'pay' us to rent a house that will sleep eg 7 (often on sofa pull-outs) than attempt to find a small house/flat for 2 and a half. Although we're currently looking at tents........ :eek:

It's definitely worth looking at Greying. I'm not a tent fan although we do go occasionally. I'm a very reluctant camper.

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

Aw, well, I suppose it's better to have activities 'in hand' than be in week 3 of 6 and the list has run dry........ And I bet your children haven't uttered the phrase 'I'm Bored' either! Definitely looking your way for parenting advice as we progress into the future starnac!

Greying X

Aww you say some lovely things. But I'm really not the best mum role model.

They do sometimes say "I'm bored" but then I ask them if they would like me to find them a job in the house or something to do. You'd be surprised how often they pick "job in the house" I do usually give them the more fun household jobs though. Like baking cakes/bread or hoovering (they seem to love that!) DD also likes to help me if I'm working. She's going to be a great teacher one day, the way she helps me plan and prepare my sessions. I run a lot of my activities through my "testers" and both the kids love being the guinea pigs. They give me proper written feedback sometimes too:rotfl:

Cinny91

I was so excited to see you have a diary, Star! Will definitely be checking in and cheering you on

Your holiday sounds like it was perfect, I can totally imagine how you feel with the kids heading back. I never realised some parents are just as sad/down as the kids are at the end of the summer holidays until my Mum confessed a few years ago.

starnac

Hi Cinny Thank you for popping in.

Kids went back to school today. I was very enthusiastic for them as I know they are going to thrive being back with their friends and as much as I try I just cannot stimulate them mentally as well as school can. But now they are back I can feel sorry for myself. I am just not ready for them to go back.

This time next year DD will be going to "big school" and I really can't cope with that fact at the moment. I just want to hold them and never let them go at the moment.

Anyway I can't wallow all day as I've got a lot of stuff to catch up on. I've taken my eye off the ball financially over the holidays. Not that we've spent loads, just that we have spent without thinking and I'm not exactly sure where we are in the account. So that will be rectified today.

I have been trying YNAB but I can't get the hang of it! We have bits of money coming in throughout the month so when I put in all the bills I know come out of the account I'm obviously over budget until the money comes in. No matter what I do I just can't get down to the magic £0 :mad:

ChasingSunshine

Your holidays sound like they were great and I'm sure the kids had a brilliant time.

With regards to YNAB the main thing is not to budget the money until you have it in your account. There are loads of videos and online tutorials if you have a look on the website. Essentially the way I do it is set goals for the month and cover the bills due before the next pay comes in. I wrote a long rambling explanation that wouldn't make sense to anyone else so would just say to google YNAB variable income and there are a few videos on some ways to manage it.

I really like YNAB, I know its essentially a fancy spreadsheet but the way of thinking works for me. Good luck with it.

starnac

Thank you ChasingSunshine for your YNAB help. I spent an evening going through the tutorials and setting up a new budget and I think I've got it. I was putting everything in which was leaving me overbudget but I think I see how it works now. I'm still working on it though so it's not perfect!

Money has been a bit tight here this month. Tenant hasn't paid rent for the second month running. This is not an unusual occurrence unfortunately so notice has been served. We try to be understanding to all situations but she's ignoring the letting agents when they ring, then when she does answer she makes appointments with them that she doesn't keep. What makes it worse for me is when the lack of rent is mentioned (and this is not the first time it's happened) she tells the letting agents that she shouldn't have to pay the rent due to X,Y and Z jobs that need doing in the house that haven't been done. Which you could argue is fair enough, but what she doesn't seem to understand is that, if she doesn't report those problems we can't get them fixed! So I'm kind of dreading what state the house is going to be in when she does move out :eek:

So money that was supposed to be a mortgage overpayment is now having to be put aside to bring the house back up to standard. (I may be wrong you never know!)

jodles16

Oh a new diary, exciting!! :j



Sory about your tennant, how irritating, I have everything crossed that it wont be as bad as you are anticipating.



Jodles

starnac

jodles16 wrote: »

Oh a new diary, exciting!! :j

Sory about your tennant, how irritating, I have everything crossed that it wont be as bad as you are anticipating.

Jodles

Thank you Jodles. We are also hoping it won't be as bad as we are anticipating. I honestly don't see why she doesn't report any jobs that need doing. We get everything done asap so it's not like it's not worth her reporting things. Ah well never mind.


Lots of money has been spent here 2 cars needed MOT. Once cost £300 the other £200 :eek: Then the insurance on one was needed. That went through a cashback and comparison site though so MSE win there :money: We do have savings especially for the cars so thankfully we didn't have to find any of that money. Not much left in there now though and the one car was advised that the clutch will go in a "couple of 1000 miles" :eek: So I either need to save for that or look to replace my car. It would make sense as mine is the big family car, our kids are older now and their car seats are not as big and chunky anymore, we don't need a boot big enough for a pram AND shopping so I could swap to a smaller, cheaper to run car. The problem is actually buying a new one though. Mine is an 07 plate so 11 years old so isn't worth much and I won't get finance on a car now so we'll just have to wait and see.